Polyphony
by nearsightedness
Summary: It was neither fate nor fortune that drew them together... 50 sentences, KaienByakuya.


Written for the 1sentence community at LJ.

**Title:** Polyphony  
**Author:** Norrowa  
**Prompt set:** Epsilon  
**Pairing:** Byakuya/Kaien (with Kaien/Miyako and Byakuya/Hisana on the side/in the background)  
**Rating:** Let's say PG-15?  
**Warnings:** Angst, referenced sex, non-graphic sex; slash/shounen-ai, obviously.  
**Spoilers:** Spoilers for Rukia's flashback (that would be the _Rukia's Nightmare_ episode in the anime, I can't remember the manga chapter number).

_#01 - Motion_

When Kaien falls in love with Miyako, Byakuya pretends he doesn't mind, and when Kaien marries her, Byakuya pretends he has moved on, and it kills him and his pride every time because he has always considered playing pretend to be beneath him.

_#02 - Cool_

At first Kaien used hot weather as an excuse to get Byakuya to take off his clothes, but when one day he daringly reached out to tug off the other noble's outer kimono, he knew that the weather was cool and so he didn't have his usual excuse; to this day he is glad that Byakuya just rolled his eyes and kissed him, abruptly and for the first time, as though it was all as natural as the weather.

_#03 - Young_

They have known each other since they were so young, they can't remember a time when the other wasn't around; so really, it all makes logical sense, which is enough for Byakuya, and the sex is mind-blowing, which is enough for Kaien.

_#04 - Last_

Byakuya did not expect Kaien's "love" for Miyako to last, so the day Kaien announces that he's marrying her, something hits him hard in the gut and he knows that the dull aching pain that spreads there will sink into his bones and never leave him until he draws his final breath.

_#05 - Wrong_

Byakuya does not like to admit that he is wrong but Kaien does it so easily that Byakuya knows his pride is safe in the tender grip of Kaien's loving honesty.

_#06 - Gentle_

Kaien is always astounded by how gentle Byakuya is capable of being when he has a mind to, but when they're having sex and Byakuya insists on going slow it frustrates him beyond words (although deep down he likes the teasing feather-light fingers and the long ache).

_#07 - One_

With Byakuya you only get one chance and sometimes this attitude pisses Kaien off so much that he snaps at Byakuya for no reason and they have brutal, blazing rows which last for hours (and it never strikes Kaien that every time Byakuya accepts his grudging apology, he is being granted a second, fourth, hundredth chance).

_#08 - Thousand_

Kaien thought their love would last a thousand years, but then as Miyako would say he is such a sappy romantic (and he loves her for saying stuff like that, and hopes that Byakuya doesn't mind too much, and he doesn't seem to so that's all right).

_#09 - King_

Sometimes Byakuya wonders about the king of Soul Society, and if he has deserted them, but then Kaien kisses him lightly, randomly, on the temple, and Byakuya realizes that he doesn't much mind the feeling of betrayal that accompanies the thought of the removed, never-seen king, because Kaien is more than enough.

_#10 - Learn_

Byakuya was brilliant, a brilliant scholar, but he never learned how to fall out of love with Shiba Kaien.

_#11 - Blur_

Once, in the days immediately after Kaien left him for Miyako, Byakuya saw the world go all blurry, and immediately resolved that he wouldn't let it affect him like that, and met Hisana a few days later and made the second biggest mistake of his life.

_#12 - Wait_

Byakuya kept on waiting for Kaien to come back to him, and hated himself for being so pathetic (but in a way hated Kaien even more for never returning).

_#13 - Change_

When he married Hisana, Byakuya thought things would change, but he was wrong (again).

_#14 - Command_

"Just get on with it already," panted Byakuya, but Kaien merely brushed his lips teasingly against Byakuya's cock, and, gritting his teeth to hold back a moan, Byakuya thought that he could command most shinigami in the Gotei 13, but never Kaien, and wouldn't have it any other way on either count.

_#15 - Hold_

Byakuya tried not to hold on to Kaien's memory, but wasn't particularly surprised when he failed (he just regretted that Hisana got caught in the crossfire in his heart).

_#16 - Need_

The words "I need you" never passed Byakuya's lips because he had always thought that Kaien knew anyways, and when it looked like he didn't Byakuya was both too proud to admit it and also too unwilling to bog Kaien down with his (comparatively unimportant) needs.

_#17 - Vision_

They both had startling vision, and Byakuya's was sometimes too precise and detail-obsessed and detached and Kaien's sometimes too passionate and heated and messy, so they balanced each other out, an unspoken, unthought arrangement like breathing.

_#18 - Attention_

"Are you paying attention?" demands Byakuya, and Kaien grins and says, "No," and Byakuya sighs and lies back onto the bed in defeat (and Kaien smiles, because knowing that he is close enough to Byakuya to be right about whether something is really important to him or not always sends a thrill of warmth through him).

_#19 - Soul_

Kaien never tried to change Byakuya's soul to make him "warmer" or "softer" or "humbler", because it was a prideful, uptight, hard, cold person whom he had fallen in love with and he never shied from the pain that always accompanied gain.

_#20 - Picture_

They were never picture-perfect, but then Kaien disliked those huge commissioned portraits that hung everywhere in noble halls.

_#21 - Fool_

Byakuya hated hindsight.

_#22 - Mad_

Not infrequently, Byakuya thought he must be mad, to be in love with Kaien, but it was one of the few things that always worked (until it didn't, and then he thought he really _would_ go mad).

_#23 - Child_

"I'm not a child," snaps Byakuya, but Kaien just laughs and answers, "But it's fun to treat you like one; don't you like being cosseted?" and Byakuya has to admit to himself that he does, and loves Kaien all the more for being brave enough to risk his wrath every time.

_#24 - Now_

Byakuya knew that to Kaien the past and the future weren't half as important as the present, and he accepted that, even if he disagreed, and that was how their relationship worked.

_#25 - Shadow_

Hisana couldn't compare.

_#26 - Goodbye_

It was surprisingly easy for Kaien to say goodbye to Byakuya, but he never thinks about it because every time, it chills his heart with ice-cold terror (_did I ever really love him?_).

_#27 - Hide_

There was nothing shameful to Byakuya about hiding in Kaien's arms, which always puzzled him and still does.

_#28 - Fortune_

It was neither fate nor fortune that drew them together; it was willpower.

_#29 - Safe_

"I feel safe with you," Kaien confesses abruptly, and Byakuya raises an eyebrow and says, "I have always thought that should the unlikely possibility of either of us needing protection come up, you will always come to my aid or I to yours, or was that a misapprehension?" and Kaien shakes his head and they don't talk about it again.

_#30 - Ghost_

"It's funny to think that Hollows were just normal people once," says Kaien suddenly one day, and Byakuya blinks, then says, "Yes, it is," knows that that's enough for Kaien, and wonders if he will ever really understand him and in a way hopes he won't.

_#31 - Book_

Byakuya was always the sort of person to do things exactly by the book so it puzzled Kaien that he didn't seem to have an issue with them being lovers and both being men, but Byakuya never talked about it.

_#32 - Eye_

They never saw eye to eye but they always made it work because they were just stubborn enough to refuse to give their relationship up.

_#33 - Never_

"Shiba Kaien is dead," says the messenger solemnly.

_#34 - Sing_

Kaien's touch made Byakuya want to do something completely silly and spontaneous, like break into song.

_#35 - Sudden_

It hits Kaien suddenly that he's an idiot and of course he loved Byakuya; he just loves Miyako more and more newly.

_#36 - Stop_

"Goodbye, Byakuya."

_#37 - Time_

To think that all this time he was lying to himself while Kaien and Miyako fell in love right under his nose (and how can he blame Kaien for thinking he's just fine with things?).

_#38 - Wash_

Guilt and doubt and shame and fear Byakuya can all put behind him; but Kaien's touch is somehow indelible (and maybe that's not so bad, because Kaien is a good pers—no, Byakuya corrects, now it's _was_ a good person).

_#39 - Torn_

When it is decided that Rukia will be executed, Byakuya has no idea what to do because he owes so much to so many people (Kaien, who loved Rukia, and whom Byakuya loved; Hisana; who loved Rukia, and whom Byakuya didn't love, and the guilt of using her is heavy and smooth like a well-worn pebble; and his parents, who would have hated Rukia, and whom he also didn't love but carries a weighty plinth-like duty towards) and he wishes now that Kaien hadn't made him care because then he would owe nothing to anybody but himself.

_#40 - History_

_Shiba Kaien is dead,_ thinks Byakuya.

_#41 - Power_

In the end there are many things you just can't control, and Byakuya always had trouble accepting this, but Kaien helped, and now Kaien is gone and there's nothing he can do.

_#42 - Bother_

"Could you _try_ not to come in my hair, Kaien?"

_#43 - God_

When they're with each other they don't worry about life.

_#44 - Wall_

The first time Kaien called him Byakuya it was as though he had jumped over a very high wall, and Byakuya didn't have the energy (or, though he would never admit it, the desire) to throw him back over to the other side.

_#45 - Naked_

It took only several years for them to strip off their emotional clothes around each other, and Byakuya couldn't really say how exactly it happened, and unusually enough (unusually because he's a person so obsessed with the _how_s) he doesn't really care.

_#46 - Drive_

The drive for them to be friends came from their family at first; it only started to come from within themselves after that incident when Kaien pushed Byakuya into the ornamental pond and Byakuya (Kaien has no idea what went through his mind) just decided that it wasn't such a big deal.

_#47 - Harm_

Kaien doesn't realize the extent of the harm he has caused Byakuya.

_#48 - Precious_

It always made Byakuya's heart skip a beat when Kaien, no matter how grudgingly, apologized to him after their fights.

_#49 - Hunger_

Awake when he should be sleeping, sitting with his knees drawn to his chest, and staring at his moonlight-bathed room and not really seeing it, Byakuya's heart aches for wishing Kaien were there next to him.

_#50 - Believe_

It is easy to believe in the hopelessness of the world, but in the end, deep down, Byakuya doesn't, because he knows Kaien wouldn't have approved.


End file.
